Cheniere declined to comment but both The Wall Street Journal and S&P Global Platts report that the Houston company is close to signing a long-term LNG supply deal with China's state-run oil company Sinopec.

The $18 billion deal could be announced as part of a broader US-China trade deal at a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of March, the Journal reported.

A Beijing-based Cheniere executive who did not want to be identified told S&P Global Platts that the Houston company has been in talks with Sinopec "for some time" but declined to provide further details about the potential deal.

News of the potential deal comes days after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave Cheniere the green light to put the first production unit at its Corpus Christi LNG unit into service and begin exports.

The potential Sinopec deal also comes roughly a year after Cheniere signed two LNG supply deals with PetroChina International Co. The PetroChina deal was signed weeks after Trump led a November 2017 trade mission to China.

The deal with Sinopec could also include financing from state-owned Chinese banks for Cheniere to further expand its export capacity, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Originally founded in 1983, Cheniere Energy employs nearly 1,400 people in Texas and Louisiana. Amid a record 273 export cargoes to 32 nations, the company closed 2018 with a $471 million profit on $8 billion of revenue.